St. Louis Cardinals at Kansas City Royals odds, picks and best bets

Previewing Monday’s St. Louis Cardinals at Kansas City Royals sports betting odds and lines, with MLB betting picks, tips and best bets.

The St. Louis Cardinals (26-24) and Kansas City Royals (21-32) tee it up for round two of the 2020 I-70 Series. The Redbirds and and Royals will play three games at Kauffman Stadium to kick off the last week of the regular season. The series gets going Monday night at 8:05 p.m. ET.  Below, we analyze the Cardinals-Royals MLB betting odds and lines, with picks and best bets.

Cardinals at Royals: Projected starting pitchers

RHP Adam Wainwright vs. RHP Carlos Hernandez

Wainwright owns a 2.87 ERA and 0.98 WHIP in 8 starts this season.

  • Scuffled in an Aug. 25 turn against KC (nine base runners, 4 earned runs in 7 IP), and current Royals bats own a high-contact .782 OPS against him.
  • Has surface numbers buoyed by a .228 batting average on balls in play and a high rate of keeping traffic on the bases from reaching home plate. The St. Louis bullpen is similarly overrated due to a BABIP boost.

Hernandez is a 23-year-old rookie making his second start. In 9.1 innings covering one start and two relief appearances, the 6-foot-4, 250-pounder has allowed 4 ER on 8 hits and 2 walks. He has fanned six.

  • Three of the four runs Hernandez has allowed have come on home runs. All three came in his last outing, which was a three-inning start against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

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Cardinals at Royals: Key injuries

(Get the latest injury news here.)

Cardinals

  • OF Dexter Fowler (personal) out
  • RP Giovanni Gallegos (groin) questionable

Royals

  • OF Jorge Soler (oblique) out
  • RP Ian Kennedy (calf) out
  • OF Franchy Cordero (wrist) out

Also see: BaseballHQ Fantasy Baseball

Cardinals at Royals: Odds, lines, picks and betting tips

MLB odds courtesy of BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports for a full list. Odds last updated at 11:20 a.m. ET.

Money line (ML)

The streaky ROYALS (+160) are the lean here. There is some baked-in value on looking at KC as a .400 team, and Wainwright figures as a 4-something pitcher if you’re going by ERA.

The Royals have the better bullpen, and it’s better rested at the back end.

Run line/Against the spread (ATS)

Two of the August games were decided by one run, but, overall, these two play fewer one-run games than normal. The price-per-pound on the ROYALS +1.5 (+100) tag isn’t quite what the money-line play is worth.

Over/Under (O/U)

This is the most advisable play for this contest. Both starting pitchers figure as question marks, and Wainwright especially is a likely misnomer with his fortunate ERA. The Royals have scored 5.2 RPG game over their last eight.

Back the OVER 9 (-110).

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